Dubai: Al Badaya landfill for construction and demolition waste became an otherwise unlikely location for a sit-down iftar for some 500 scrap collectors at the site on Saturday evening.
The Ramadan charity food distribution initiative — Convoy To Feed 2016 — was organised by more than 120 students from Synergy, a youth group supporting environmental and charity initiatives, in cooperation with the Dubai Municipality.
Aged from five years to 19, the students from various schools in Dubai spent a day packing food items and arranging the iftar, according to Simran Vedvyas, the founder of Synergy.
The 17-year-old girl who has just passed her grade 12 told Gulf News that it was a special experience for the children to arrange and distribute the food packets to the workers who toil hard in the landfill.
“We had earlier planted trees in landfills and realised the hard work that the labourers put in for keeping the city clean for us, working tirelessly and ignoring the harsh weather conditions. This is most certainly our way to express gratitude and share time with them during the holy month of Ramadan.
“It is imperative to draw attention to the fact that we throw away over a third of all food that is produced, wasting precious land and water resources that have gone into its production. Food waste in landfills is one of the biggest contributors of the harmful gases that cause global warming.”
The scrap collectors, mostly hailing from Pakistan and Bangladesh, said they were touched by the gesture.
Mohammad Aqib from Pakistan said he felt great to see the children coming all the way to the scrapyard on Dubai-Al Ain Road for a noble cause.
“More than the food, I enjoyed the sight of the happy children serving the food. I have three brothers and four sisters. They are all younger to me and I miss them a lot. These children reminded me of my sisters and brothers back home,” the 29-year-old said.
Mohammad Naimuddin from Bangladesh, a driver at the landfill, said he had never experienced such a grand iftar during his eight years of work in Dubai. “We really felt happy that we were shown some love and given some good food for iftar,” he said.
The iftar packets included dates, fresh juices, freshly cooked biryani, packaged food items like pasta and soup sachets along with water bottles and a box of fresh fruits. Officials of the Waste Management Department of the municipality, Istanbul Group of Companies, which has the contract of collecting recyclables from the scrapyard, and the sponsors were also present.
Tariq Khan, a scrap collector from Pakistan, said the fact that officials, guests and the students had food along with the scrap collectors and other workers at tables arranged in an area in the landfill showed the real spirit of Ramadan.
“It was so nice that all of us sat down to have iftar together. There was no difference among us when we ended fast.”
